Ketutar
Eh. Some good parts, some bad parts. Overall, pretty boring.
I liked the part where Juli the elder studied to become a priest. I didn't like the story of the village. And that was most of it.
I don't like how he created special animal and plant life and then had pigs and geese and other Earth animals.
I love short stories. How the author can with so few words tell a perfect story to make us see something we didn't know existed... or did know, but weren't aware of.
Gustav is so human in his love, obsession, desire, and effort to please... thinking of him sitting in the barber chair getting “rejuvenated”, seeing the youth blossom on his face... a ridiculous old man, like the old man he despised at the beginning of the story. Ridiculous, but so sad, so recognizable... I can't help but feel deep sympathy.
This story reminds me very much of Lolita, as we don't know at all what goes on in the head of the boy. We don't know if he is basking in the older man's obsession, or if he is wary of it. We only have Gustav's story of it. But contrary to Lolita, Gustav doesn't r the boy.
Now, that was interesting.
It's a fascinating combination of what happens inside the MC, and the science of Solaris.
It's quite heavy of science, so if you don't like scientific theories of things that don't exist - or that we don't yet know exist - then you won't like this book.
I was a little bothered by the mindset of the characters that doesn't quite match mine. On the other hand, isn't that one reason why we read? :-D
Now I'm going to watch the two movies made of this book. I can think the movie makers had their own ideas about this.
Of course these are excellent :-D Of course, the Bicentennial Man was amazing. I didn't expect he would make me care about Andrew so much. [b:Houston, Houston, Do You Read? 318011 Houston, Houston, Do You Read? James Tiptree Jr. https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1325070167l/318011.SX50.jpg 308801] was so absurd :-D
Some people say this is boring, but I didn't find it so. Sure, there's very little physical action, but the emotional action is quite enough :-DI find this story deeply moving and engaging, and I can't wait for the next book :-D (Though, I can, and I will, because I am in the middle of the Amazing Readathon, and I need to go sightseeing now, and read short books to collect points for my team ;-) But come July, and I'll be on to [b:The Stone Sky 31817749 The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3) N.K. Jemisin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1478547421l/31817749.SY75.jpg 52472813]
Oh my goodness!
This is perfect. Becky has created a wonderful world I want to be part of. SO much so that I want to wander in the wilderness and built a hermitage there... and it can take all the time it takes, and then I will be there, offering tea and a listening ear and open arms to everyone who arrive...
This book is so good, kind, warm, nice, gentle, beautiful... absolutely perfect.
I don't know what to think. Partially this book is amazing, so beautiful, poetic, descriptive language, and then it falls into word vomit, quite on par with any other author in love with their prose. The idea is wonderful, exciting, and creative... in many ways, Dan Simmons has created a fascinating world, a universe with many worlds... and at the same time, he refers to the same things over and over again, things that would have been obscure data in a post-Terra world. I mean... Keats? Uh. At least in Star Trek, they invent new people who have done things. Would these people REALLY have the same frame of reference after 700 years of the end of the world we know? Keats? Would they still be singing “We're off to see the wizard”? Are we singing 700 years old songs from another culture and world? (Well, I am, because I am a medievalist, but not really, no.)This book is very white and male. Half of the people don't need to be male. It's also quite colonialistic, even though colonialism is depicted as bad... The Maui world is supposed to be some sort of Polynesian paradise like in the adventure books from early 20th century, but the heroine is white. Red hair, green eyes, untanned skin clearly white against the tanned skin... and the hero sleeps with her the first night they meet. He's 19, she's 15. He calls her “a not quite sixteen-year-old womanchild”, and talks about her “budding breasts”... Yuk. I don't know if it makes the infantilization of the “indigenous people” more or less racist.Also, I hate the poet. I hate his poetry. I wish Dan Simmons would have quoted poetry less. In fact, so little, that there wouldn't have been any. It's basically just Tolkien who could do that.It reminds me of [b:A Pilgrimage of Swords 43923515 A Pilgrimage of Swords (The Seven Swords, #1) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549899953l/43923515.SX50.jpg 68347373] by Anthony Ryan (2019)and Joan D. Vinge's Tiamat series (1980s). Might remind me of a lot of other things, had I read the stuff he read. I suppose it's original enough. At least, there's a lot of people who love it.Oh, and he loves to use the word “lapis” for blue.
This happens some time after the first books. Lilian wrote it over 20 years after the first books, and it shows.
The following might be a spoiler, but it doesn't say anything about the mystery in the book, so I don't count it as a spoiler. It's just sort of a trigger warning for sensitive cat lovers reading this book.
I'm sorry to say but Joy's cat didn't make it. I was hoping he would, but, no.
I'm glad to say that Coco and Yum yum do. And they just went on a walkabout, no-one kidnapped them for animal testing or tried to kill them or anything like that. I was horrified when I read that bit, and even though I was pretty certain the cats would survive, I was really scared something horrible would happen to them.
So... the white FEMALE savior goes to Egypt, saves the ignorant, dirty, uncivilized Egyptians, educates the Egyptologist in Egyptology, the Archaeologist in archaeology, the sailor in sailing, the doctors in medicine, and other specialists in their specialty, and levels the pompous misogynists' noses - and all men are misogynists... This happened in the late 1880s, hard to pinpoint when, but she complains about women's clothing, education, and all kinds of other things, that weren't really a problem.So... she starts her Chauvinism already in Italy, where she kind of replays the nastiness of Susan Coolidge's [b:What Katy Did Next 730503 What Katy Did Next Susan Coolidge https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348327387l/730503.SX50.jpg 1779240]. She rescues a young heiress, Evelyn Barton-Forbes, who is the epitome of a damsel-in-distress. She swoons. She faints. She stays fainted for hours. (Dear writers, people stay fainted for a couple of SECONDS. If they are unconscious for more than 15-20 minutes, there are SERIOUS reasons for this. If unattended, people could die or suffer serious consequences. You can't just carry the fainted person in a hotel and give them a sponge bath, and they will be all fine.)Anyway, back to chauvinism. Italians are apparently horrible people. The villains of this book are Italian and prove Evelyn's grandfather's prejudices totally justified and true. Now, we have two very wealthy men dying and leaving their property to these ladies. Yet they whine about how unfair it is to be a woman and whatnot. Amanda has brothers, and Evelyn has male cousins, who are older than she is. But - SO UNFAIR!!!! Evelyn can't inherit the peerage! She's a lady nevertheless. What ever.The chauvinism continues in Egypt. ALL Egyptians are so dirty, uncivilized, uneducated, ignorant, superstitious, savage, without any moral or ethical values, except a few - very few - exceptions, and they are exceptions only because they are Christian or some such thing. And they aren't very good as people, just a little bit more educated and civilized by the good, kind, just, fair, civilized, wonderful Englishmen. Somewhat like trained dogs compared to street mutts, you know. Also, she is a feminist. Yes, Elizabeth actually uses the word. Of course, Amelia is a feminist, and so is Evelyn, even though she is really not. Amelia isn't like other women, you know. She needs Evelyn to clean her up, and does she not clean up so nicely! She is married within a year after meeting Evelyn! Nevertheless, she complains about her clothes all the time. Ok, so sure, women weren't wearing pants in the 1880s, but if you have never worn pants, you don't need to wear pants. Just ask any true Scotsman ;-) Seriously, I preferred skirts for most of my childhood, and I was a very active tomboy. I spend most of my days (when I wasn't reading) out running in the woods, climbing in trees and on rocks, wearing fairy core and prairie dresses. So, PLEASE; authors, stop badmouthing skirts!There were sportswear in the 1880s. The riding habit was pants with an overskirt. Why wasn't Amelia wearing that? Or culottes. They also existed in the 1880s. Also, we have precedent. French archaeologist, Jane Dieulafoy wore three-piece suits while traveling with their husband. This drawing is from 1883. (Now, I believe Jane was in reality Jean, a trans-man, but what do I know. In the eyes of the society, they were a woman, wearing men's clothes, in 1883. Nothing stopped Amelia from wearing men's clothes either.)Elizabeth gets some points for not complaining about 1) pockets or 2) corsets. I'm sure it was because she forgot, not because she didn't think they were worth complaining. Amelia also complains about men all the time. I suppose that's what Elizabeth thinks feminism is. I think a lot of people have misunderstood this with feminism. It's not an effort to make women rule the world, it's an effort to make the world see and treat women as human beings. The eternal bantering between the main characters about “typical men” “typical women” was tiresome and irritating. There is no such thing as a “typical man/woman”. In reality, Amelia comes across as a misandrist. Men who disagree with her are automatically disqualified as having valid opinions or being worth listening to, maybe even heeding to, because they are men. She hires a boat, and demands it sails at her command, ignoring the captain's effort to explain or negotiate other solutions, no, she knows what she wants, she pays, so they do as she says. End of conversations.This is the way she deals with any and every disagreement. And she believes this to be a good thing, is proud of herself.She is a real bitch. She is never wrong, never apologizes, why would she, she has never done anything wrong, and when she does something that might be considered less ladylike or fair, it's always someone else's fault, or a result of their behavior. I mean... this archaeologist wrote a book about a woman who goes to a museum and starts wiping the objects with her handkerchief, and when an archaeologist yells at her for being so inconsiderate and ignorant, she gets angry, and the author makes the man apologize to her. And later let her unsupervised to help in the excavation. I MEAN, ELIZABETH PETERS WAS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST/EGYPTOLOGIST!!! Real one, with education! What else? Did I mention that fat people are bad?
